France's young people stand up against higher retirement age

• Published date: 10 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

including some who haven't even entered the job market yet ? are protesting Thursday against the government's push to raise the retirement age.

Students blocked access to some universities and high schools, and several hundred students led a protest in Paris as part of nationwide strikes and demonstrations against the pension bill under debate in parliament. The protest briefly turned violent as a group of youths broke away, vandalized bus stops and set a car on fire.

The energy branch of France's prominent union, CGT, on Thursday cut power to the large sports complex in the northern suburb of Paris, including the Stade de France and several construction sites of the infrastructure for the 2024 Olympics.

For a generation already worried about inflation, uncertain job prospects and climate change, the retirement bill is stirring up broader questions about the value of work.

"I don't want to work all my life and be exhausted at the end," said Djana Farhaig, a 15-year-old who blocked her Paris high school with other students during a protest action last month. "It is important for us to show that the youth is engaged for its future."

People in their teens and early 20s have taken part in protests against the retirement reform since the movement kicked off in January, but student groups and unions are seeking to call attention to young people's concerns Thursday.

"If we don't do something, nothing will ever change," said Penelope Ledesma. The 16-year-old student said she blocked the entrance to her high school in the town Chelles outside Paris on Wednesday and traveled to the capital on Thursday to support the strikers against the government's retirement reform.

President Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and make other changes he says are needed to keep the public pension system financially stable as the population ages. Opponents argue that wealthy taxpayers or companies should pitch in more to finance the system instead.

Quentin Queller, a 23-year-old student who attended an earlier round of protests, said, "64 is so far away, it is depressing."

He questioned the idea that hard work equals happiness, arguing that "we should work less and have more free time." He and others echoed concerns by older protesters that instead of working to live, France is moving toward a system where people would have to live for work.

At one protest, a teenage boy held a placard saying: "I don't want my parents to die at work."

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